Agricultural implements, such as rotary mowers, are used to cut vegetation and brush along highway areas and ditches. Typically, the mower includes a tractor and a rotary mower or cutter. The rotary mower is operationally connected to the tractor via power driven mechanism, such as a power take-off (PTO). The rotary mower is usually connected to the back of the tractor and is pulled behind the tractor. As the tractor moves forward, the rotary mower mows vegetation and brush.
Existing mowers and attachments for mowing along roadsides cannot sufficiently mow around stationary objects. For example, while a conventional flail mower can mow beneath guard rails and fences, a flail mower cannot mow around a post without requiring that the direction of travel of the mobile machine upon which the flail mower is mounted be changed so that the flail mower can be repositioned relative to the post. Even if such a mower is successfully moved around the post, the area adjacent the post must be mowed a second time using a handheld trimmer, or herbicides or other hazardous substances must be applied to the area adjacent the post to destroy any vegetation that the flail mower could not reach.
Traditional weed cutters must be manually guided around corners and obstacles. Using a vehicle and mower to cut weeds around objects like fence posts, for example, can therefore be a challenge. However, cutting weeds around fence posts with a hand-held weed cutter is quite labor intensive.